Iran Needs U.S. Security Assurance, ElBaradei Says

Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:

The United States needs to give Iran some kind of security assurance as Washington joins the EU to try to persuade Tehran to give up sensitive atomic activities, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog chief said Monday.

"I think when the issue of security comes up (in the EU-Iran talks), obviously the U.S. will have to step in, because ... the Iranians will very much need the American and not just European (security) assurance ...," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the future of nuclear energy.

"A discussion of regional security is very much not only a European affair." READ MORE

France, Britain and Germany have offered Iran political and economic incentives if it permanently abandons all work on the nuclear fuel cycle, activities that could give Iran the ability to produce highly enriched uranium fuel or plutonium for bombs.

Iran has demanded assurances that neither Washington nor Israel attack it, something the Europeans cannot provide, diplomats close to the talks said on condition of anonymity. ...

Washington has repeatedly told nuclear North Korea that it would not attack. U.S. officials have never made a similar declaration to Iran but have played down media speculation that they were planning military action against the Islamic republic.

ElBaradei said the Americans and Iranians would need time for any thaw in relations. He said it was more than two decades since Washington severed diplomatic contacts with Tehran after the 1979 hostage crisis.

"You're trying to restore relations that have not been there for 20 years, you do not expect things that have gone sour for 20 years to be restored in two months. Everybody should be patient," he said.

ElBaradei said the United States would eventually have to actively join forces with the Europeans and not merely support them if the initiative was to work.

"I've always said that at the appropriate time the U.S. will have to be fully engaged," ElBaradei said.

NO BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED

Negotiators from the EU's "big three" and Iran are scheduled to meet in Paris later this week to assess progress in the talks, which remain deadlocked over Tehran's refusal to end uranium enrichment as demanded by the Europeans.

European diplomats close to the talks told Reuters that no breakthrough was expected though both sides would probably agree to continue the talks.

The EU trio has demanded that Iran provide "objective guarantees" that it will not develop nuclear weapons. The EU says nothing short of a termination of fuel cycle activity can provide such a guarantee. The Americans have backed the EU position.

ElBaradei said he hoped a solution would be found that would enable Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy but would provide the necessary assurances to the international community.

"I'm sure that with good intentions they (EU and Iran) should be able to come to a solution that enables Iran to maintain the ability to use nuclear energy, as they're entitled, and to make sure that the international community is satisfied that things are all exclusively for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said.

Gary Samore, a security expert based in London who advised U.S. President Bill Clinton, said a series of recent meetings he had with Iranian officials in Tehran had given him no indication Iran was ready to give up enrichment.

"The good news is that the Iranians are going to maintain the suspension (of enrichment) to avoid a crisis, to get them through the June presidential elections," Samore told Reuters. "The bad news is that publicly and privately they're united in rejecting the EU demand to abandon enrichment."